Quick-thinking dad Martin Knightsmith has told how he saved his young son from choking to death.

He leapt into action when three-year-old Oscar was gasping for breath at their Nuneaton home after accidentally swallowing a small coin.

“I was upstairs at the time and my wife Aimi suddenly screamed out for help.

“When I ran down she was hysterical,” said Martin. “Oscar’s face was going blue.

“I slapped and shook him and turned him upside down but he still could not breathe.

“Then I put him over my lap and gave him one hard slap to the back – and a coin, covered in blood, popped out of his mouth.”

Martin, a branch manager with the Coventry Building Society, had been on a first aid course at work and remembered the techniques which proved invaluable in such a life-threatening situation.

“When the paramedics arrived they said that Oscar was very lucky and that if I had not have done what I did he may not have survived.

“The coin had lodged in Oscar’s throat and had cut his oesophagus.

“Fortunately, apart from being quite shaken, he was okay. But it was a terrifying moment and I’m just so glad that I had been shown what to do in an emergency.”

Martin, who lives at Horeston Grange and also has a five-year-old son Olly, is now urging other people – and especially parents – to learn basic first aid.

Free courses are currently being offered by St John Ambulance, with three-hour sessions at The Courtyard at Elliot Park, Nuneaton, on December 2 and 14 and January 13. Tuition can also be arranged for community groups.

Sam Lukes, regional co-ordinator for St John Ambulance, said: “No-one should die because they needed first aid and didn’t get it.

Our aim is to teach people how to deal with a range of emergency situations, such as choking, severe bleeding, chest pains and resuscitation.”

Little Oscar’s ordeal has also prompted staff at his Nic Nac playgroup, on St Nicolas Park estate, to organise a special one-off first aid session.

It will be supervised by a qualified paramedic and takes place on November 25 at 7pm, with a £4 charge.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of knowing how to react in the case of an emergency,” said Martin. “If I hadn’t known what to do or had not been there at the time, I dread to think what the outcome might have been.”

Anyone interested in joining one of the St John courses can contact 0121 237 3873 or e-mail west-mids-training@sja.org.uk.